This invention is drawn to the field of brushing, scrubbing and general cleaning, and more particularly, to a novel dust wand cleaning appliance.
Dust wands (e.g., feather dusters, lambswool dusters, polyester fiber dusters) and dusting cloths (disposable or reusable) are well-known implements which remove dust and other foreign matter when they are manually wiped across the surfaces of furniture, walls, artifacts and other objects.
Dust wands, particularly lambswool dusters, are reusable implements that are generally effective at dust and foreign matter removal. They typically enjoy a long useful life, but suffer a disadvantage that arises each time their dust collecting agents (fibers or feathers) are periodically cleaned to restore their cleaning power. In the usual case, a rapid back-and-forth movement or spinning action is employed to mechanically shake loose accumulated dust and foreign matter from the wand.
The action of wand cleaning, however, gives rise both to undesirable and often considerable pollution of the air in the vicinity of the dust wand and to an often not inconsiderable accumulation of dirt on the underlying floor and dust on other surfaces in the environment. The polluted air (commonly laden with allergens) is unpleasant to breathe, if not unhealthy, which makes it desirable (although very inconvenient) to clean the wands out of doors even under inclement conditions, while picking up the dirt and dust that accumulate on the floor and elsewhere in the environment requires separate time consuming and often noticeably laborious action.
Disposable dusting cloths are slow to use, expensive, require storage of replacements, are not as efficient to use on delicate objects as dust wands (e.g., wiping a porcelain figurine is more difficult than lightly brushing it with a feather or lambswool duster), and still need to be carried away to the trash increasing the risk that dust will contaminate the air or skin during the process. Reusable dusting cloths are more cost-effective, but suffer the other disadvantages of disposable dusting cloths, plus they need to be washed periodically.
Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to disclose a dust wand cleaning appliance that receives a reusable dust wand in such a way as to conveniently contain its dust collecting agent and provides pollution-less contained removal of dust and foreign matter that may be accumulated thereon. The present invention thereby provides a faster, better, more effective and more convenient, cleaner way of dusting than heretofore thought possible.
The disclosed dust wand cleaning appliance in accord with the present invention includes a canister having an open mouth in communication with an internal chamber adapted to receive a dust wand, and a particulate removal system including an air inlet, an air outlet, a flow passage, a filter and a motor driven vacuum impeller blade so arranged as to draw air through the air inlet past at least a portion of the internal chamber where it entrains any foreign matter that may be present on a dust wand received in the internal chamber and to move the air along the flow passage and into the filter which separates out entrained foreign matter and discharges purified air cleaned of foreign matter through the air outlet.
In the presently preferred embodiments, the dust wand cleaning appliance is portable; the canister is adapted to be free-standing, and the motor of the particulate removal system is powered either by AC, by a rechargeable battery pack, and/or by a non-rechargeable battery pack. Manual and/or automatic (timed or continuous) activation may be employed.
Reusable dust wands may thereby be conveniently cleaned without producing undesirable dirt and dust pollution at the places where they need cleaned and as often as they need cleaned, simply by inserting and removing the dust wand into and out of the canister of the portable dust wand cleaning appliance. When not in use, the reusable dust wands may be conveniently stowed in the free-standing canisters.
In the presently preferred embodiments, the air inlet of the particulate removal system draws air radially outwardly peripherally around a dust wand received in the chamber and an annular comb/dust agitation ring helps dislodge foreign matter from the dust wand. A mesh filter and a HEPA or other high efficiency particulate air type filter are employed to ensure cleaned, allergen-free air.